Taunton couple arrested for damages after being served with eviction

Tuesday

Aug 19, 2014 at 8:42 PMApr 16, 2016 at 3:57 PM

A Taunton couple, who police said vented their frustration over an eviction notice by causing more than $1,100 to their landlord's apartment building, are each being charged with malicious destruction of property over $250.

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

TAUNTON — A Taunton couple, who police said vented their frustration over an eviction notice by causing more than $1,100-worth of damage to their landlord’s apartment building, are each being charged with malicious destruction of property over $250.

Police identified the two as 39-year-old Kerri M. Machnik and Norberto Sanchez, 44.

Police said when they showed up at 61 Main St. just after 11:30 p.m. Monday, they found the main lobby littered with broken glass from ceiling light fixtures.

Also ripped out, they said, were emergency lighting fixtures and a fire-suppression alarm system.

The building’s maintenance supervisor told police there had been several cases of vandalism ever since he’d served the tenants of apartment 5 with an eviction notice.

Police said when no one answered after they knocked, the superintendent used his master key to unlock the apartment door.

Forced entry was required, which entailed bypassing a deadbolt lock, because the couple posed a potential threat to other tenants inside the downtown building, police said.

When an officer asked what had happened in the hallway, Machnik allegedly told him: “That’s what you get for breaking our TV.”

She and Sanchez accused the superintendent of breaking their television when he served the eviction notice, police said.